Delhi Metro Phase-4 | Signing of MoU on first 3 corridors gets CM’s nod

Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Delhi government, the Centre and the DMRC on the first three corridors being built under Phase-IV of the metro, an official statement issued on Monday said.

At present, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is carrying out construction work on a 65.2-km stretch of three priority corridors spanning 45 stations as part of this project.

These three corridors are Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (28.92 km), Majlis Park-Maujpur (12.55 km), both of which are extensions of the Delhi Metro's Magenta Line and Pink Line, and Aerocity-Tughlakabad (23.62 km), which is being built as Golden Line to connect the Violet Line and the Airport Line from their respective ends.

With this, the work on these three corridors will "pick pace", the statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has approved the signing of an MoU between the Delhi government, the Centre and the DMRC," it said, adding that this will ensure that all "obstacles" in the construction of these corridors are removed.

"The Kejriwal government is also trying to seek approval for the other three Phase-IV corridors pending with the central government as soon as possible," it added.

The three proposed corridors awaiting the Centre's approval are Rithala-Bawana-Narela, Inderlok-Indraprastha, and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block.

In July 2023, the DMRC had said the proposed Rithala-Bawana-Narela corridor of the network may possibly be extended up to Kundli in Haryana to provide additional connectivity to the neighbouring state.

These three remaining corridors will span 47 km and have 39 stations, the statement said.

"The MoU was pending for many years. CM Arvind Kejriwal made personal efforts to clear the way for the MoU," it said.

"The government of India on 09.03.2019, 04.07.2019 and 02.01.2020 conveyed its approval for the implementation of three priority corridors of the Delhi Metro Phase-IV projects: R K Ashram to Janakpuri West (22 stations), Aerocity to Tughlakabad (15 stations) and Majlis Park to Maujpur (8 stations)," the statement said.

Work on these projects with a total completion cost of Rs 24,948.65 crore is in progress, it added.

The remaining three corridors are under active consideration of the government of India and work will start on them in the due course of time, the statement said.

According to the MoU, the Delhi government will work with the DMRC to provide a common mobility card for integrated ticketing and seamless travel across all modes of transport in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The MoU also provides for facilitating multi-modal integration, including suburban railways (by involving the Ministry of Railways), to set up a well-connected network in the region, the statement said.

According to the MoU, the Delhi government will have to "expeditiously take all actions" necessary to transfer the project land, free from encumbrance and handover possession to the DMRC, the statement said.

"The action required shall include but shall not be limited to lease/transfer of government land and/or procurement/ acquisition of private land. The GNCTD (Delhi government) shall ensure that there is no delay in implementation of the project on account of land acquisition/transfer," it stated.

The Delhi government will also set up a high-powered committee (HPC) under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to address and sort out all city government-level issues regarding implementation, particularly with regard to land acquisition, diversion of utilities, shifting of structures in the project alignment, rehabilitation of project-affected persons and multi-modal integration.

Secretaries of departments concerned and heads of civic bodies will be among the members of the HPC.

"As per the MoU, a traffic information management control centre will be set up for effective traffic monitoring and enforcement as well as for data generation and data collection for future planning," the statement said.

The MoU shall be effective and continue to be valid till such time the debt for the project is repaid in full. It is also understood that this MoU could be further extended by mutual consent of the government of Delhi and the government of India, it said. PTI